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Is it Euphoria or delusion-----------

Qudsia Kadri
Tuesday, May 15th 2007

The situation continues to rapidly deteriorate in the country. Saturday the 12th of May will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the country's history. Karachi witnessed the worst of the cold-blooded killings of its residents. With the first rays of sunshine we awoke to perhaps a tense feeling of a de'ja-Vu. But not in our wildest dreams had we anticipated the tragedy that was to fall upon this city.
We reached work manipulating great driving skills picking some staff members on the way, in a ghost like city cordoned off at every intersection. As the day progressed we were left horrified to watch on the television, scenes never witnessed before. The main artery of the city Shahrah-e-Faisal was by the afternoon strewn with bodies covered with blood. As many of them struggled for the last few gasps of breath, the law enforcing agencies stood like statues without blinking an eyelid. As protestors beat up photographers and camera crews, and prevented even ambulance drivers and workers who were trying to save even one dying person, we gripped on to our chair's unable to comprehend the basis of this diabolic show of strength.
We were inundated with calls from the legal fraternity who were being harassed by rallies consisting of ruling party members, from the various political party leaders, to our friends and colleagues in the media. We received frantic calls from a young reporter's brother who had been detained and held outside a private T.V channel. We like the rest watched with shame and disgrace the city of Karachi crumbling, many dying and a open display of gun-totting men. We saw with painful disbelief the police and the rangers standing mute as the city burned and dead bodies kept piling. And than came the display of jubilant, unaware, totally clueless people brought in from all over Punjab dancing and beating the drum to show their allegiance to the President, Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Punjab.
We watched, with our mouth's open once again in dismay as the president proudly claimed victory over the show of his power to outdo the opposition and lawyers rallies in both Islamabad and Karachi….
We wanted to cry with disbelief that while Karachi had turned into a battlefield, the rulers in Islamabad were feeling ecstatic and jubilant over their so called victory of showing more muscle than the opposition and the legal fraternity and were completely lost in a euphoria of their own make-believe world.
And all this for what ______ not wanting the Chief Justice to go in a rally to address the Sindh High Court bar. All this for proving a more loyal than the king attitude, all this for proving that the ruling party is much stronger than the other alliances of President Musharraf and than the rest of the opposition?
We fail to even try and understand the wisdom behind making the people of this city hostage to the political whims of the Sindh Government.
Yesterday, once again as we sat in our offices with a skeleton staff streets were empty, section 144 was in effect, rangers were patrolling empty streets, yet all petrol and gas stations were shut down. Even those who wanted to reach their private offices could not for want of transport. All shutters were down, Governor Sindh having once again declared the day an official holiday. Schools were also closed. Factories, Industries and business houses were locked. Inspite of rangers being given the power to shoot on sight, as this report is being written we got news of trouble in Banaras and Qasba colony. We wonder where section 144 or laws enforcing agencies are?
We would like to ask the provincial government of Sindh and Karachi where and what have we achieved in the past three days, have we become more popular, more strong, more prosperous?
In a city already wobbling on reviving dwindling outputs in the textile sector, due to the massive energy crisis being faced in this city. (Surprisingly their was no load-shedding on Saturday?) Any further turmoil and disturbance shall result in massive ethnic strife. Sectarian divide which could lead to a nightmare of unforeseen proportions in the days to come..